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By John MonkThe State (Columbia, S.C.) • Sunday September 30, 2012 11:22 AM

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The discovery of thick wads of $100 bills — $270,000 worth — bundled in tinfoil
and stuffed in a canvas bag wrapped in duct tape is the latest turn of events in a federal criminal
case of the amputated hand.

The cash was located recently in the possession of a mentally handicapped Sumter, S.C., man
whose left hand was lopped off as part of a bizarre scheme to defraud the Hartford insurance
company of $671,000, according to documents on file in federal court.

The discovery of the cash follows a guilty plea this month by David Player, 58, also of Sumter,
who confessed in his plea hearing that he was the instigator of the 2008 plot to cut off the hand
of Michael “Porky” Weaver to collect insurance money.

Weaver, 52, who is severely mentally handicapped, depended on Player to care for many financial
and emotional needs, according to court testimony. Weaver’s left arm was severed in the plot with a
chain saw between the wrist and elbow. He now wears a hook.

Player had spent $371,000 of the insurance proceeds on things such as attorney fees for his
divorce, but $300,000 was unaccounted for. Now, all but about $30,000 has been accounted for. The
just-found $270,000 will be turned over to the insurance company at some point.

“The money has been entered into evidence and is now in the FBI’s custody,” Assistant U.S.
Attorney Winston Holliday said last week. After pleading guilty in a Sept. 13 hearing, Player was
allowed by U.S. Judge Cameron McGowan Currie to remain free on $100,000 bond pending a Dec. 14
sentencing. He faces up to 20 years in prison for mail fraud involving the receipt of illegal
insurance payments through the mail.

Currie ruled that Player, while on bond, may not contact Weaver.

According to undisputed evidence in the case, Player persuaded another man, Gerald Hardin, to
use a chain saw to cut off Weaver’s hand in May 2008.Player and Hardin then took Weaver to a
hospital, claiming that his hand had been cut off by accident as they were trimming trees.

Within months, Player was able to get a payment of $375,000 in homeowner-insurance money from
The Hartford.Player also had taken out insurance policies covering accidental death and
dismemberment on Weaver, for whom he had exercised power of attorney for many years. The Hartford
sent Weaver $296,000 for a dismemberment claim.

In Player’s hearing, Currie had quizzed him on the whereabouts of the unaccounted-for
$300,000. Player told Currie that he had given the money to Weaver months ago but didn’t know where
it was.

However, evidence indicates that hours after that hearing, Player went to Sumter and gave Weaver
$270,000 in cash.